SNL - Iran So Far

i never thought something adam levine was in could be so awesome, but this is so awesome it kind of makes me want to cry.

I Am Man - Burger King

i hate this commercial so much.

Dick Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire

awesome!

history/narratives, and a random bit about band names

every once in a while, i remember how awesome it is to be a history major, just because of the cool things you study and interesting things you get to read. i didn't take any history classes last semester, and the history class i took last summer was just survey class, so it's been a while since i've gotten a chance to read history, and i'd somewhat forgotten how awesome it is.

when history gets really interesting is when it starts examining histories themselves. the article i'm reading right now is talking about how for a long time history was written with the unit of analysis being the nation state. part of the argument is that the nation state became the unit of analysis in order to help justify the nation state itself. the author points out that:

"The first national history was published in 1789, the year of the inauguration of the new and distinctly nationalist Constitution. It was the work of David Ramsay, a Charleston physician who had earlier, in 1785, written The History of the Revolution of South Carolina. That the American national state was created in the same year Ramsay published the first national history, The History of the American Revolution (1789), ... is not merely coincidental."

the author furthermore posits that:

"Only recently and because of the uncertain status of the nation-state has it been recognized that history as a professional discipline is part of its own substantive narrative and not at all sufficiently self-conscious about the implications of that circularity."

so the larger argument is for truly international histories of specific countries...

i could go on, but i'd basically be reprinting the entire article.

history as i see it is an attempt to create a more or less true narrative of events and ideas. sometimes, to create that true narrative, one has to look at previous narratives and see how they fit their era. also, creating narratives is something humans have done since forever, and it's something people do everyday to justify the things they do and the way they see the world. and there's a lot more i could say, but i don't want to spend the time, even though it would undoubtedly clear my thoughts a bit.

---

my bloody valentine
my chemical romance
my morning jacket

if you're starting a band, the "my (adjective) (noun)," choice of name is a good way to get your band confused with other bands by potential fans. so just don't do it.

---

just fyi. i think i'm writing my major paper on micro-finance/micro-credit (wikipedia it if you don't know what it is). i don't know what i'd write about.

but i also think it would be really, really interesting to study the writings of people like paul graham and hugh macleod and, i dunno, jeff jarvis, although i haven't read much of the latter's stuff, so maybe he doesn't fit with the other two. but there are many people these days who blog about what it takes to make it in the current media/technological environment. these people write from experience. they've made it. and their blogs attempt to get at the truth of the present media/technological economic environment. and they all end up sounding alike. and i'm not making myself clear. but i think there definitely is a narrative going on here that could be studied and compared with reality. and it's more than just talking about "web 2.0" or whatev. graham and macleod especially write not just about the specific areas in which they've been successful. they offer ways of living. see graham's "how to do what you love" or macleod's "how to be creative." so it'd be interesting to examine how these guidelines/ personal credos give ideological support to/ derive from the way the two do business. and it'd also be interesting to compare this with "the old way" of doing business. and most of all, it'd be interesting to try to discover how much of what they say is True, how much of what they say is true for the current state of things, and how much of what they say is bullshit that helps create a personal narrative.

---

also, note to self: your travis albums might be the only ones worth bringing to the new place to listen to on the amazing stereo system there while you're working on homework.

first post

although i love blogspot, i don't see myself making a final transition over here any time in the near future.

i imagine i'll use this mainly to comment on other people's blogs.